king' s outdoor world - Index

king' s outdoor world - Best of 2007 Feb-March 2008 - Index

by Daren HIll
54
UTAH UTAH
Sportsman Tag 2007
While horseback riding in
familiar country, Rod
Taylor, along with his two
boys, Jeremy and Dillon, spotted a
huge buck. At fi rst glance, this buck
seemed bigger than your typical
Utah muley. Upon closer inspection
through spotting scopes and
binoculars, the image through the
glass revealed a buck whose horns
resembled the gnarly branches of a
dead cedar more than buck antlers.
For the next several minutes, they
sat in awe of this magnifi cent animal
HUNTING ILLUSTRATED.com
while exchanging looks of disbelief and
words that can be summed up into one
simple phrase - “I don’t believe it.”
Rod and his boys soon came
to the conclusion that someone needed
an opportunity to harvest this once-in-alifetime
trophy. Jeremy mentioned that
Rand Newby, a gunsmith at Christensen
Arms, had drawn the 2007 Sportsman
Tag. All three agreed that this buck was
defi nitely deserving of the Sportsman
Tag and well worth it for Rand. With
the sun sinking rapidly behind the
mountains to the west, the buck bedded
down below some steep cliffs under
an aging cedar tree. The Taylor’s
knew that they stood a good chance
of the buck not moving again until
dawn. They decided that Jeremy
would ride off the mountain and
contact Newby. In the meantime,
Rod and Dillon, with the aid of a
bright full moon, would stay with
the buck to keep it in sight.
Eventually, Jeremy contacted
Rand who was accompanied by
his dad, Michael, and his brothers
Dusten and Shad. Christensen
Rand Newby made good on his 2007 Utah Sportsman tag
and came away with this spectacular mule deer that spans
42-inches wide. His buck has 13 scorable points on each
side and has been rough scored at 230 gross B&C.